One of our recent guest speakers was Carol Hoffman with Southernmost Illinois Tourism Bureau. Carol is well versed in NUMEROUS activities, events, venues, locations, parks, and MORE in Southern Illinois. She is a CHAMPION for all things tourism or related to tourism. Her commitment and dedication to the tourism bureau and the communities she serves is almost unmatched. We always enjoy her visit and walk away with so much more awareness of the many opportunists in our region that we are not familiar with. This year’s visit was no different!

UCCEO team member and The AJ Wildcats, Foster Needling shares his appreciation and takeaways below:

“Sending thanks to Carol Hoffman with the Southernmost Illinois Tourism Bureau for meeting with this year's Union County CEO team.

We discussed the many tourism destinations that help attract opportunities for local businesses. We talked about how vital it is for local people to talk about Southern Illinois. Carol had eye-opening information about how important marketing is to local businesses and the flow of customers into the economy.

Thank you again to Mrs. Hoffman and toThe Villa-Pizza Villa for hosting our meeting. We valued every moment during her visit and the knowledge that we gained about So. IL will not be forgotten.”